


slept next to her, but i dreamt of you all summer long

by serenesapphic



Series: love you to the moon and to saturn [2]
Category: Captain Marvel (2019)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Teenagers, Angst, Betty - Freeform, Carol Danvers - Freeform, F/F, Folklore, So much angst, carolmaria, enjoy my oc, happy ending I promise, maria rambeau - Freeform, multi-chapter
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-22
Updated: 2021-03-10
Packaged: 2021-03-12 23:06:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,539
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29642070
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/serenesapphic/pseuds/serenesapphic
Summary: someone returns from a certain military school to a person she barely recognizes.
Relationships: Carol Danvers/Maria Rambeau
Series: love you to the moon and to saturn [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2178114
Comments: 5
Kudos: 29





	1. love you to the moon and to saturn

**Author's Note:**

> im backkkk. told you this would be a series! if you haven’t yet i highly recommend reading the last work in this series, “cross your heart won’t tell no other”, as this is a direct continuation! this one is going to be a multi, so buckle in for a fairly angsty ride. i promise the end will be worth it! title is from betty, but you knew that already.

Light laughter emanates from behind the cracked bedroom door. The girls toss and turn in the sheets as the tickle fight escalates. Dusty sunlight filtering in through the window hits the blue of Maria’s headscarf as she finally emerges from under the blankets, gasping for air.

“Tay, please-“ she gets out in between laughs. She pushes on the nimble hands still making their way up and down her sides. Her stomach was starting to ache in the best way possible.

“Okay, okay.” The second girl comes out as well, holding herself up directly over where Maria lies flat on her back. She smiles widely, completely caught up in the look of glee on Maria’s face. Long locs fall on either side of their faces, creating a sort of inefficient curtain. She bends down for a quick kiss that turns into two. One on the lips, one on the cheek. “You win this round,” she admits before laying on her side right next to Maria. “But only because I’m hungry.”

“You’re always hungry,” Maria comments notably with her hands interlocked behind her head. 

“I didn’t hear you complaining last-“ Taylor begins at a volume far too loud to be appropriate.

“Girl, are you crazy?! My mama is right down the hall.” Maria cuts her off quickly at a whisper.

“Your  _ mama _ is dead asleep.” She giggles at her apprehension. ”Everyone is this goddamn early.” Taylor corrects her.

“It’s 8 in the morning, Tay.”

“If it’s not two digits it’s too early,” she repeats her mantra that often comes in handy when dating an early riser.

Ignoring the inherently incorrect part of calling any time two digits, Maria replies, “Uh huh. Imma go wash up, you wanna start breakfast? Since you’re so hungry.”

“Sure,” Taylor shrugs, leaning in closer, “Unless you want company?” 

Maria closes the gap quickly, bringing their lips together for a few seconds before breaking away. 

“I would, but I wanna actually get some showering done. And you like to make that difficult.” She offers a smile before getting out of bed and grabbing a couple things for the bathroom.

“Lazy!” Taylor shoots at her as she walks out of the doorway.

“Horny.” Maria fires back with an eye roll before disappearing into the hall.

Less than an hour later the two are working their way around the kitchen. Taylor is fully in her element: locs tied up in a bun, tank top seemingly getting tighter and tighter in the heat, spandex riding up as she hops from the fridge to the stove. Maria can’t help but notice every aspect of that as she chops fruit at the counter. One perk of dating a chef is having to cook a hell of a lot less. Watching her work definitely helps too.

“Are those my eggs?” she asks, peering over at the stove.

“Yes, why?” Taylor counters distractedly.

“Well you know I don’t like ‘em super dry.” She really doesn’t care much, but it’s fun to get her girlfriend worked up sometimes.

“I know,” she replies shortly.

“You sure? Because-“ 

“Make them yourself then!” Her tone stays semi-light but annoyance is not far behind. Plus, she really does back up from the stove to prove her point.

“Drama queen,” Maria mutters before taking over.

The sound of the doorbell surprises them both. It’s still decently early, especially for company neither of them is expecting.

“I got it.” Taylor walks over to answer the door.

Maria nods and turns down the heat, maintaining her focus.

“Can I help you?” she hears from Taylor, causing her to look up. Salesmen never come this early. And it’s not like they get many visitors otherwise.

There’s an uncomfortably long pause before the answer, and by some unexplainable level of instinct, she recognizes the silence.

“I’m sorry, I was looking for Maria Rambeau?”

The confirmation freezes her body. In the most physical way possible she literally cannot bring herself to move. She watches helplessly as the eggs cook far past what she’d planned for them to. That voice. It felt like ice injected directly into her veins. She can’t even bring herself to remember that it used to have the complete opposite effect.

“What was your name again?” Taylor’s interrogation continues at the door.

“Carol.” Maria forces out, breaking free of her stupor and turning to the right just as her past walks through the doorway.

In so many ways, the experience resembles seeing a ghost. Maria had exhausted herself erasing Carol from her mind. It had taken months of clearing things out of her room, major distractions, a new girlfriend…and still, there lay a piece of Carol inside her all this time. A piece that glowed so brightly for the first time in a year and a half. She had forgotten what it felt like.

“Hi.” Her voice is unbelievably soft as she lays eyes on Maria.

There’s something different about her, Maria notes. It’s almost imperceptible but it’s there. A way her shoulders sit and her hands clench around the duffel bag she’d brought. Other than that, though, she’s the same person she’d always been. Her hair was chin length now, and wavy, which probably meant she’d stopped straightening it every morning. But it still moves like a shadow with her head as she shakes it slightly. Her eyes are still that rich brown reminiscent of a fresh sweet tea. Her arms are more toned for obvious reasons and the loose t-shirt she wears does little to hide it. She’s wearing black cargo pants which, while certainly aren’t fashionable, fit her well. But even as Maria scans over her, the moment doesn’t feel real. 

“Maria?” It’s Taylor calling her name, and the second she switches over to look in the different set of brown eyes, the reality comes crashing down around her, and painfully so. 

Carol had  _ left _ her. She’d left without warning and without a goodbye nearly two years ago. Maria had finally begun to move on. And now, here she stands looking just as perfect, just as charming, just as beautiful as the day she’d left. It’s wrong. All of this is wrong. But before Maria can voice this, she hears footsteps on the stairs. 

“Maria? Taylor? who’s down there?” Her mother calls out as she descends. But there’s no answer. “Maria?”

But then she makes it to the first floor and sees the incredibly awkward silent staring contest happening between the three girls.

“Carol?!” she asks with shock, her deep southern accent immediately recognizable.

Carol turns, escaping a stupor of her own, and a smile breaks loose on her face.

“Rose!” she exclaims and drops to her bag to run and hug her.

Carol and Maria’s mother had a bond rivaling that of Maria and Rose themselves. They’d grown incredibly close over the years. Partly due to Carol’s constant being there as opposed to her own home, and partly because of how accepting Rose is of who she is. A sentiment her own parents certainly did not share. After ten years, she’d become a sort of second daughter to Rose, and she’d been sad to see her go.

“How have you been, baby? You look good! Strong!” She comments as she holds Carol an arm’s length away to examine her.

“I’ve been fine,” Carol offers a smile. There’s a sadness behind it that Rose can’t help but see. Now’s not the time to address it, though.

“Well, good. That school treat you right?” She asks.

“Why are you here?” Maria questions before Carol can respond.

Both of them turn to her in surprise. Taylor, who hadn’t moved from her spot since Carol first walked in, looks over as well. Every single part of this situation feels incredibly foreign to her, and she’s really just waiting for an opportunity to leave.

“Maria Janelle-“ Rose starts.

“No, Mama, I’m sorry but she doesn’t just get to walk up in here like nothing happened. Like she never  _ left. _ ” Her words are strong and her tone hardens to match. She’s staring daggers at Carol, who fights the sudden urge to cry at the harshness.

“You will  _ not _ disrespect her that way in my house, young lady. Apologize.”

Maria raises her eyebrows at the response. What the hell does she have to apologize for?

“No, um, she’s right, Rose,” Carol interrupts, quieter this time. “I should have called or something.” Maria scoffs at that. “I’ll go.”

“You certainly will not.” Rose counters. “Now, I see you brought your bag. And if I’m not mistaken, you weren’t supposed to come back for a little while longer. Your parents know you’re here, Carol?”

She shakes her head softly. It’s the most tame Maria has ever seen her in awhile. It’s almost scary. She almost regrets her words. Almost.

“That’s just fine. You can stay in the guest room for as long as you like. You know you’re always welcome here, baby.” She directs a pointed glare at Maria for the last part.

“I can find somewhere else to stay, really.” Carol insists. Of all the ways she’d imagined her return going, this somehow wasn’t one of them. Clearly Maria doesn’t want her back. And she can’t bring herself to blame her.

“Aht aht. None of that. Go on and grab your bag and head upstairs.” She smiles at her warmly, but it’s clear her words aren’t a request.

“Yes, ma’am.” Carol does as she’s told and avoids both Maria and Taylor’s gaze the entire way.

Rose stands with her arms crossed as she stares at her daughter, awaiting an explanation.

“I’m gonna go.” Taylor speaks for the first time in what feels like forever. She grabs her phone from the counter and keys from the rack, and makes her way out the door.

“Wait, Tay.” Maria moves to stop her.

“Let her go,” Rose orders as the front door shuts.

Maria waits a second to turn back around to her mother, the rudeness she’d exhibited finally settling in.

Even behind the closed bedroom door upstairs, Carol can hear pieces of the very loud conversation occurring in the kitchen. “Don’t you ever-“ and “That’s not fair!” are the most often repeated ones. She sits on the edge of the bed in disbelief of what had just occurred.

It hadn’t even been ten minutes since she’d stood outside of Maria’s door practically trembling with anxiety. In retrospect, maybe showing up unannounced hadn’t been her wisest decision, but she really and truly has nowhere else to go. The Rambeau’s are her family. They have been for years, and more than anything she hopes Maria is still included in that.

_ Maria _ . As her thoughts travel back to her, she thinks back to the moment she laid eyes on her in the kitchen. She’d grown her hair out. That had been Carol’s first thought. Before...just  _ before _ , she’d always kept it short, and most often in box braids. It had been her look. Now, her own hair surrounds her face in tight, natural curls. It’s pretty, Maria would always be pretty, but Carol fought to recognize the girl that had stood in front of her. Her clothes are the same. She’s even the same size, toned body and all. But the brightness that had always shone behind her eyes, the passion, felt diminished. And the immediate look on her face when Carol walked in carried a very clear message:  _ She’s back _ . Carol might as well have heard it. But then the girl next to her said her name and it sounded abnormal coming from someone else’s mouth with that concerned tone. And that look switched in an instant from gratitude to anger. She’d learned to read Maria Rambeau ages ago, and right now she is plain angry. And Carol wouldn’t dare blame her.

She shakes her head lightly in an attempt to free the thoughts from her mind. When that doesn’t work she resorts to putting her clothes away in the dresser drawers. She’d stayed in this room only a few times in the past. In the very beginning of her friendship with Maria, when Maria caught the flu and Carol wasn’t allowed in the same room with her, and once more when they’d gotten into a really nasty fight but Carol was scared to go home that late. It feels so impersonal, so empty. Had she really done this much damage? A knock on the door interrupts her efforts toward an answer.

“Yes?” she answers.

She bites her lip to keep from lightly gasping at the sight of Maria herself.

“Mama told me to come in and apologize, so.”

Carol stands up from where she sits on the bed so she can face her. Holding her wrist in her opposite hand, she suddenly feels as though the entire bed between them isn’t nearly enough space. The isolation of this, of her, feels bizarre. 

“Yeah,” Maria gives up on forcing the apology she’d been ordered to give. She looks down at her own fingers after staring one moment too long into Carol’s heartbroken eyes.

“I’m sorry,” the blonde says instead.

“No.” Maria’s response was immediate. “You don’t get to do that. You don’t get to look at me with those puppy dog eyes and say ‘sorry’ and fix what-“ She stops herself then, feeling her emotions running away from her at full speed. “Not now, Carol.”

She nods, the grip on her own wrist suddenly getting so tight it’s almost painful. There’s nothing she can even say. She can’t even think with this alternate version of Maria standing in front of her.

Maria sees this, sees her, and can’t help but offer a little consolation.

“Just not yet.” She adds and immediately exits the room, closing the door behind her softly.

  
  



	2. chapter two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Because Carol and I…” she gestures in an attempt to avoid the words.
> 
> At that, Carol looks up and directly at her. It’s the first time she’d said her name in a week, and Carol had forgotten how sweet it sounded, even in this context. It gives a likely false sense of hope that she can’t bring herself to ignore. Pulled by a force that can only be described as magnetic, Maria meets the eyes she’d been trying desperately to avoid. And that look, that light...she couldn’t be put out if she wanted to. 
> 
> or
> 
> rose takes the matters of carol and maria into her own hands.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> here we go! i already have basically the entire layout for this story planned and i really think you guys are going to enjoy it. there’s no specific year assigned to this fic but it is canon adjacent so i’d say it’s set in the 80s. don’t think too much about that though lmao. i haven’t mentioned this yet but my twitter is @/lovelyrambeau in case anybody wanted to reach out with questions or anything for some reason. anyway, read on!

The next week proves itself to be even more awkward and uncomfortable than anyone in the house could have possibly imagined. Both Carol and Maria have evidently fallen hard and fast out of their prior routine of spending time in the same house. Waking up in different rooms for starters feels bizarre, moreso for Carol than Maria. She’d never admit this to Carol, but Taylor wasn’t allowed to sleep over until far after the usual point in a relationship. It had felt almost immoral to sleep next to someone who wasn’t... _ her _ . Carol, though, had dreamed of her reunion with her now ex-girlfriend, and the reality was beyond underwhelming. Even thinking about Maria as her ex seems unnatural. 

“BREAKFAST!” Rose Rambeau calls from the kitchen downstairs. In their individual rooms, both girls turn toward their closed bedroom door. They’d both been awake for hours. 

“Coming, Ma!” Maria yells as she slips on her slippers. She leaves the room at the same time as Carol, much to her dismay. The two hadn’t exchanged more than ten words since the day of her return. Even so, Maria feels very little guilt for icing her out this way. Like she’d said, she just isn’t ready to face what Carol’s done. So she slides past her and nearly runs down the steps, using every ounce of willpower not to look back. 

“Smells delicious, Rose!” Carol comments when she makes it to the kitchen. Their relationship, on the other hand, has thrived. Rose has been on the receiving end of many a late night vent from Carol. John, Maria’s father, had never been more grateful to be a deep sleeper than when Carol settles on the end of their bed for a long-lasting conversation. 

“That french toast?” John asks from his seat at the head of the table. His head stays buried in the paper even as he asks, eyes squinted behind narrow glasses. 

“Sure is,” Rose replies distractedly as she finishes up. 

He grunts in approval as the girls take their usual seats on opposite sides of the table. Maria happens to catch her mother’s eye as she walks over to plate the food. The older woman squints at her and then at Carol. She’s clearly pushing the same agenda she had for days. For Maria to say something, anything, to her former best friend. And just like before, Maria pretends not to notice and stares at her fork. This time, though, Mrs. Rambeau doesn’t settle for that.

As soon as she sits down, Rose speaks clearly.

“Maria, wouldn’t it be nice if you took Carol to that new drive-in by the elementary school? I don’t believe she’s seen it.”

Both girls freeze, and Maria stares daggers into the french toast to avoid making eye contact with her mother. Carol notices, she always does, and tries to get them out of it. 

“I’m okay actually, Rose. I’m feeling pretty tired today. This is delicious, by the way.” She diverts.

“Me too, Ma.” Maria adds, silently grateful. Alone time with the person she felt the least comfortable around at the moment is at the absolute bottom of her to-do list. 

“That’s fine. You can go to the showing at six. Lots of time for rest.” She smiles at both of them as she solves the pseudo problem.

A wave of silence passes over the table as both girls rack their brains for effective excuses. 

“I don’t think Taylor would be okay with that,” Maria says, and it’s entirely true. Ever since Carol showed up, and more specifically Maria reacted to Carol showing up, their relationship had been forced onto the rocks. The fact that Carol is staying with them certainly hadn’t helped either.

“And why not?” Rose pushes, backing her daughter into a corner. 

“Because Carol and I…” she gestures in an attempt to avoid the words.

At that, Carol looks up and directly at her. It’s the first time she’d said her name in a week, and Carol had forgotten how sweet it sounded, even in this context. It gives a likely false sense of hope that she can’t bring herself to ignore. Pulled by a force that can only be described as magnetic, Maria meets the eyes she’d been trying desperately to avoid. And that look, that light...she couldn’t be put out if she wanted to. 

“It’s fine. We’ll go.”

“Look at that.” Rose smirks. “As long as that’s alright with you Carol?”

She bites her cheeks to suppress the smile that threatens to reveal her true feelings on the situation. 

“That works,” she says shortly. 

They spend the rest of the morning pacing in their rooms. 

Maria is...upset to say the least. Her mother dropping this on her knowing she and Taylor are already on thin ice is infuriating. She’s nineteen years old for god’s sake. What she does in her free time is her business, not her mother’s and certainly not Carol’s. 

It’s only been seven days since her entire world shifted and she was left to pick up the pieces, alone. That fleeting moment of joy, of safety, that she’d felt when Carol walked through the door was just that, fleeting. The hurt that she’d experienced following her departure had never disappeared. It grew and grew until it could swallow her whole, so Maria had to lock it away just so she could breathe again. But as deep as she thought she’d shoved those feelings down, laying eyes on her blew them wide open. That aching question of if she’d ever be able to suppress them again hangs over her head like a debilitating cloud. 

That thought pushes Maria to leave with a very specific destination in mind. She throws on a jacket and shoes and rushes out the door.

Carol hears a faint “I’ll be back” and the closing of the front door as she wears out the floorboards of the guest room.

Out of the plethora of emotions coursing through her, excitement manages to come out on top. She hadn’t had a moment alone with Maria in nearly two years. The majority of that had been her fault, but most recently it had fallen on Maria. Carol has been attempting patience, which is certainly not a strong suit of hers, when it comes to her long lost girlfriend. She understands that she left suddenly, and that time has passed and Maria has moved on. But what they had couldn’t just disappear with time. A year and a half doesn’t erase over a decade of completely intertwined lives. The Carol and Maria that they used to be just need some spark...right?

She chooses to believe this as she picks out her most form fitting top, still a black crew neck but it hugs her shape, and her favorite pair of shorts. They’d been Maria’s favorite too, but that didn’t seem too relevant now. Of course, everything can’t be fixed overnight. They would need to have lots of conversations about what happened and how to move forward. Not to mention the increasingly relevant issue of Taylor. Obviously, the two had gotten into a relationship during her absence, and unless Maria had lied to get out of the movies, they still are. Carol had never considered herself any version of a homewrecker, so she secretly hopes their relationship fizzles out. Then again, if Taylor had been nothing more than a rebound there’s no way they’d still be together. So much of what had gone on with Maria is unknown to her, and that alone is a foreign feeling. She used to know everything about her, from her favorite candy (Skittles) to the fact that she always slept on the side of the bed farthest from the door because it felt warmer. That familiarity seems to have dissolved a significant amount. And Carol doesn’t know how to process that. 

5:30 comes much faster than either of them would like. 

Carol is pulling on her boots when she hears footsteps leading up to her door. She hadn’t realized she memorized the rhythm of Maria’s walk, but here she is knowing exactly who stands on the other side. When there’s a tap at the door, she says,

“You don’t have to knock, ya know.”

When Maria opens the door and enters, she can’t help but scan her body. Maria had always been enchanting, to Carol at least. Something about the bass in her voice, the curve of her hips, the shine in her smile. Evidently none of that had changed as she stands there in a long sleeved crop top that allows just a sliver of skin before black skinny jeans take over. 

“Yeah I do. Time to go.”

Carol nods, noting the dismissal.

“I’ll be down.” She smiles up at her widely, and earns an almost imperceptible grin in response before she turns around and leaves. Baby steps. 

“Have fun, girls!” Rose says as they head outside. Maria fights a glare towards her mother at her plan succeeding and closes the door behind Carol and her. 

“You got a car?” she asks surprisedly as they approach a shiny black Jeep.

“Yep. Had plenty of time to save up for it,” Maria responds shortly as she unlocks Carol’s door and walks around to her side.

The unsubtle but fairly indirect dig doesn’t go unnoticed. But Carol swallows it yet again. 

“Well I like it.” She scans the inside of the vehicle with satisfaction. It’s spotless, which is unsurprising considering who it belongs to, and smells vaguely of vanilla. There are a couple of blankets folded neatly on the backseat but otherwise it appears untouched. Carol can’t help but think of the blanket she’d kept in her truck for when Maria got chilly on late night drives. There are two of them in here, though. One for Maria. One for Taylor. 

She settles back into her seat and realizes that the car is started up, but they’re not moving. Maria is giving her a look she knows all too well.  _ Seatbelt _ . She buckles immediately and off they go. 

Outside of the song playing quietly through the radio, a silence falls over them that while Maria seems to be comfortable with, Carol almost explodes from. 

“What are we seeing?” she asks and looks over. 

Maria keeps her eyes on the road and leans her head against the headrest. 

“Like what movie…”

She doesn’t respond. 

“You’re ignoring me now?” 

Apparently so.

“You must have forgotten how annoying I can be,” Carol taunts. She leans forward to turn the radio up to an unreasonably loud volume. Classic rock fills her ears as she stares directly at Maria waiting for her to explode. She hates loud music, always has. Something about not being able to hear herself think. Carol doesn’t understand this, like at all, music has always helped her focus. But it is a fairly effective way to get Maria talking. 

She turns it back down, though, and keeps her attention on driving. 

Carol turns it back up immediately. 

Maria turns it off. 

Carol turns it on, and loud. 

This time, Maria takes her eyes off the road to turn the radio off and swerves a little into the other lane. A loud honk outdoes the music and Maria looks up sharply. 

“Damn it, Carol!”

Carol feigns a gasp. “She speaks!”

“You are so…”

She raises her eyebrows and smirks, happy to finally receive any kind of attention. 

But Maria just shakes her head and slams the button to turn the radio off. She seems genuinely upset this time so Carol backtracks. 

“Rambeau-”

“Don’t.” Maria bites out. “You don’t call me that.” Her hand visibly grips the steering wheel. Why did that make her so upset? It’s what Carol’s always called her. Her first name was reserved for serious moments. Carol’s usually was too, but Maria seems to have forgotten that as well considering it’s the only one she’s addressed her by. 

“Sorry,” Carol mutters and stares out the windshield. 

That nagging feeling of guilt creeps back into Maria’s chest. She doesn’t  _ like _ hurting Carol. It doesn’t give her a sense of satisfaction the way she thought it would. It just feels uncomfortable. 

“What do you want from me?” The question sounds harsh but her tone isn’t sharp, just genuine. 

It’s a reasonable ask, Carol thinks. And one she doesn’t really have the right answer to. Besides just wanting the old Maria back and their relationship restored, she hadn’t thought much farther into her desires. There are too many feelings to fit into words she can actually come up with, so she settles for a much less heavy version. 

“What movie?”

“Dirty Dancing.” 

“I love that one!” Carol says without thinking. It had been one of her favorites before she left, something about Baby really connects with her for some reason. Maria didn’t usually watch it with her though, “too much romance”. Obviously, neither of them chose the movie schedule, but it certainly feels like a happy coincidence. 

When Maria smiles softly at her excitement, she doesn’t notice. 

They make it to the drive-in not long afterward and watch as the sky grows dark enough for them to see the screen. It’s not too crowded but they also don’t stand out. It’s a nice night.

Maria reaches into the backseat and grabs both blankets. She hands one to Carol silently and reclines her chair right as a bright light shines on the lines of cars. Carol does the same, and the movie begins. 


End file.
